Velvet Lives I Long To Try: Valentine's Day Posts

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Night’s obsidian!

Velvet lives I long to try,

One redwing blackbird.

Here’s a Heart Tree from Robyn (my title), and a Haiku I wrote in the Haiku Room for you…Happy Valentine’s Day. Other heartworthy news: Alessandra Bava translated Corridor, Sylvia (Part III) and Joan, 21 Century into Italian; read both versions of the three poems here at Patria Letteratura (poems published this fall in November Butterfly by Saddle Road Press).

And I’ve gathered a few prior Feral Mom posts on the subject of valentines:

Feral Valentines: Thomas, Nijinsky, Plath

On this anniversary of (Sylvia Plath’s) passing, Brain Pickings posted, The Quicksand of Existence: Sylvia Plath on Life, Death, Hope, and Happiness, pouring us once more through highlights of The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (published back in September 2000), celebrating the whole, feral poet, with light of previously edited passages bringing Sylvia's passion and skill for hunting the moment down into focus. All is fair, as they say, in love and war: if you are going to love any girl, love all of her. Happy Belated Valentine’s Day. Read the rest of Feral Valentines here. (For more on Plath and an amazing Italian poet, see Alessandra Bava's post: Sylvia Plath and Amelia Roselli.) And for a bit of modern day Nijinksy, here's a link to a video of Sergei Polunin dancing to Hozier's Take me To Church in a beautiful sunlit studio (up at Elle).

Thresholds

Penina shares my sun, moon, and rising sign—our birthdays two days apart-- my “older sister”, 11 years my senior. The news of her father’s heart attack registered as a physical pain in my heart and I needed to make this for her. Her father: deep orange and red, poppies, monk, wise man, gentle. A beautiful, tall, strapping Samoan man with a large Samoan heart. He nurtured Penina, urged her to follow her heart and write. I intended to have many poppies, but instead, this is what came: a door, the spiral path to the heart. Read the rest of Thresholds here.

Notes from the Road: Footprints, Storefronts and Valentine Mimes

Envy

the mime his concentration

like the chased in a pair of lovers

lost to the now, so busy moving,

gloved hands ever edging the door,

or women their addictions of the moon,

marking their gardens with morning blood...Read rest of Notes from the Road here.

Sandy Frank

Winter Solstice Sculpture Poem:

Winter Solstice

Live long enough and you outlive

somewhere a lover, one you cast aside

or one you chased. One who didn't want you--

at least, not then--or one you cried to leave, but left.

No matter what the parting, there's a last meeting

in the eggplant black of dream...Read rest of Winter Solstice Sculpture Poem here.

Sculptures by Sandy Frank. A link to our other projects: Collaborations for Bread.

Sculpture by Sandy Frank

Additional News:

An Afternoon of Poetry and Poetry Movies:

I'll be in Sonoma County in March on November Butterfly book tour...I hope you'll join me for an afternoon of Poetry and Poetry movies featuring the work of Sonoma County Artists at The Occidental Center for the Arts Book Launch Series. Artwork featured in the movies will also be on display that afternoon. Free Admission. Refreshments sold. OCA is located at 3850 Doris Murphy Court, Bohemian Hwy at Graton Rd. For more info: see The Occidental Center for the Arts.

Upcoming Classes:

Wheel of Archetypal Selves: Lovers to Strength starts March 16 (in person)

I have had a beautiful time teaching Wheel of Archetypal Selves: Fool to Visionary the past month. Next class begins March 16 and runs through April 27: Wheel of Archetypal Selves: Lovers to Strength. We spend one week on each Major, writing our way into a deeper understanding of our lives as they relate to the archetypes. For an idea of the type of writing our classes elicit, here's a post by Marsha Rosenzweig Pincus, "Tarot or Not Tarot?" on her blog Her Own Terms: a post mid-life woman writing for her life. And for an understanding of how I approach the Tarot, check out Tarot for Two where I co-blog with Mary Allen.

Intermediate Blogging starts on April 7 (on-line)

This class picks up where our Beginning Blogging section leaves off, but all level of blogger is welcome to join us for ongoing blog support. We will cover growing blog network and connecting to one's tribe through social media and strengthening blogging habits. We also take a look at post titles and tags and vlogging (video blogging). We always create content while having fun brainstorming. Course is offered through San Diego Writers, Ink; sign up here.

Coronado Friends of the Library Author Event: 

and last but not least...a big thank you to my father; here's the November Butterfly write-up the Friends of the Coronado Library put together for a beautiful evening celebrating local authors last week. 

What inspired you to write your first piece:

My father tells me the day I was born he took me outside to hear the melting snow. I wrote my first poems to please him; they were haiku written on the Illinois prairie. 

Biggest influence: 

My father, a musician and piano tuner, is a perpetual punster (rutabaga, archipelago, Winnebago). He kept an Underwood typewriter on the table for us stocked with a fresh sheet of paper and all manner of art supplies ever at our disposal. 

First Butterfly Out Over Open Sea: Poetry Launch at San Diego Writers, Ink

November Butterfly enjoyed a stellar launch in San Diego at  San Diego Writers, Ink (I've written a bit before about SDWI in the post Writer Heavens). Shout out and sincere thanks are due SDWI Executive Director Kristen Fogle and Inspirations Gallery owner and writer Jill G. Hall for their hands-on support and of course to my beautiful team at Saddle Road Press, Ruth Thompson and Don Mitchell (the mage behind the cover design).

Both Ruth and Don are here from Hawaii and safely nestled in Sonoma County for upcoming readings from their respective books from Saddle Road Press (Woman With Crows and A Red Woman Was Crying) in the cities of Cloverdale and Sausalito and with Saddle Road Press sister Michelle Wing (Body on the Wall) and I in Berkeley.

I am very eager to celebrate also with cover photographer Robyn Beattie! I'll see her next week for Sonoma County's November Butterfly launch. I'm thrilled to be featured in several locations: Coffee Catz on Monday, November 10th and Moe's Books in Berkeley on Tuesday, November 11th. Visit my Events page for details; preferably pre-register for the Coffee Catz writing workshop (so I know how many paper dolls to make). Or just come on out for the reading.

Launch day started beautifully with a message from a new writer friend overseas informing me she'd ordered a copy! Imagine! First Butterfly out over open seas! And of course, following that blessing, in true Feral Mom, Feral Writer style, November 1 was rife with challenges to surmount on the way to the launch. First: the daughter to rescue from her Halloween sleepover, her neck stiff from having slept in her friend's dog bed (her choice, the horrified sleepover mom informed me, yep, sounds like my girl). She flinched, head pasted to her shoulder, for the whole twenty minute drive home to the refrain of "ow, ow, ow" in response to the car's every swerve. Next: the middle son: to shepherd to soccer, stepping over his 523 individual pieces of candy sorted by wrapper to tear through four laundry bins in search of matching socks and plundering cupboards for stale water bottles. And last but not least: the youngest son to prepare for an ice-skating play date. More rummaging in clothing archives for long pants which frankly we haven't worn since we lived in Sonoma County...followed by the requisite coaxing of hand-washing, hair combing, and please-&-thank-you drills.

By 12:30--with two hours to spare--the house was mine, just long enough to cut out six strings of paper dolls for workshop participants which turned out to match perfectly the number of students, including walk-ins.

My red scarf gave me fortitude for the next potential disaster--the husband, returning from the soccer match, never made it home in time to retrieve my lovingly delineated driving directions note from the kitchen table. He texted me two minutes before the workshop started from the iPhone repair shop (only my husband could destroy a phone bound in a Life Case--nothing new under our roof--see Feral Wife: Two Chainsaws, The Ocean and an Untended Husband). In my new role as busy author, I confess, I directed my husband to my website for directions (side with me? Maybe? I had writers at The Inkspot table to tend in the moment).

As much as I love my children and my husband, I wasn't prepared for how sweet it felt when they did finally come sauntering in to catch the last few poems, my husband's cell phone buzzing so many times I finally said, "Who is that guy?!!!" We all cracked up good naturally and poems, I promise, were delivered in peace...What a blessing to read to an audience of writers I'd had the chance to meet in workshop for a bit.

I continue to welcome any and all permutations of support for November Butterfly. I am funding the book tour myself and am performing as the marketing team, which involves the wearing of an entirely new bouquet of hats for me (so far a creative and playful adventure with much love and support from many writers I've come to know over the years). I'd love to be directed towards any additional reading, review, radio interview, or teaching opportunities. Here's a link to my Events page where you can read a bit about my workshop/reading structure. A copy of November Butterfly comes with the writing workshop fee and the readings after are usually free or come with a small suggested donation amount.

If you'd like to support Saddle Road Press itself, order the book directly from me through my Contact page on my website. The book is also available in paperback or Kindle editions through Amazon. I'd welcome your customer reviews on the Amazon page as well.

I invite you to check out the poetry prompts I've been writing to accompany Section I of the book (poems for iconic women). Try them out yourself or if you teach, try them with your writing students. I'd love feedback about how the exercises go and/or I'd love to come visit your writing class. Here they are:

Marilyn, or No Girl Sets Out to Die

Sylvia, is it Sleep or Words You Miss

Amelia, Crossing for the Crossing

Jay DeFeo’s Rose, or Stein Cursived Hers on Her Ceiling for Alice

Sisters of the Orange, A Tale of Three Oranges

Lolita Wake! 

She Dressed in a Hurry (For Lady Diana)

Thumbelina Weighs Her Options

Ophelia, Circling Possible Futures and Alternate Endings

Additional Links of Interest:

Stop by Alessandra Bava's Blog, Poetry Rules; Bava caught my eye with some crossover poetry interests and with the title poem for her collection, They Talk About Death (for Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton). Her chapbook They Talk About Death is just out from Blood Pudding Press (and won the 2014 Blood Pudding Press Poetry Chapbook Contest); I've devoured the poems and adored the special care with which Blood Pudding Press packaged/presented her book. The cover art, Yellow Carousel Horse, by Erin Wells, is stunning.

Photo Credits: 

I took the top one; the typewriter lives at San Diego Writers, Ink, at The Inkspot. The image for "Before the orange," of course, is by Robyn Beattie.